Link Building Resources

Last updated: January 28th, 2020

Hello and welcome to our complete list of link building resources!

Here at Page One Power we eat, breathe, and dream link building. We work around the clock to continually provide the best SEO services and content marketing services for our clients — and we want to share our knowledge with you.

If you're looking for resources to help you build links, look no further. If you're new to SEO and looking to learn more, check out our guide to link building and our comprehensive keyword research guide. You can also learn more about the search industry as a whole by checking out our search marketing glossary!

Suggestions, comments, feedback (and shares!) are welcome. Simply email us at team@pageonepower.com.

Enjoy.

According to Google, their algorithm changes around 500 times a year. Although many of those are minor changes that are all but impossible to notice, some are larger changes that are hard to define. To help better track and understand Google’s algorithmic changes, multiple third party companies have built algorithm change monitors. These tools track thousands of different search results and are able to notice minute changes. All SEOs should keep an eye on a few of these algorithm change monitors.

Human creativity is the number one link building tool, without question. When you’re working to build quality links that matter, remember that.

There are hundreds of other tools that will help improve your link building efforts, every stop of the way, from prospecting, outreach, tracking, reporting, monitoring, and everything in between. The power these tools give a link builder shouldn’t be underestimated, but don’t forget that great links come first from human care and effort. Tools will only help – they can’t replace that human element.

Backlink Explorers

Backlink explorers are one of the most fundamental tools for any SEO, especially link builders. These tools let you examine the links your website already has. You can learn a lot from studying your current backlink profile, and backlink explorers provide you with the necessary data. Some of the most valuable information you might discover is what an explore can also tell you about your competitors’ websites.

Outreach Tools

Outreach is one of the most important aspects of link building because nothing can be accomplished without effective outreach. Outreach will set the tone for your entire link building campaign, and through successful outreach you can cultivate valuable relationships as well as links. However, outreach is time consuming and can become convoluted without proper organization. Fortunately, there a number of helpful outreach tools to choose from.

Link Prospecting Tools

Link prospecting is the act of finding sites worth building a link from. Due to the amount of noise and websites available, link prospecting can take up a healthy amount of time within the overall project. Luckily there are tools specifically designed to help you increase your link prospecting efficiency.

Site Analytics

The human brain is truly incredible and can do absolutely remarkable things; however, it can’t always do it alone. Tools that provide, organize, and analyze data can help drive creativity and understanding. Site analytics are absolutely essential for better understanding the performance of your own website.

Rank Trackers

Links can provide numerous benefits, including traffic, branding, authority, relationships, and of course search visibility. It’s that last one – visibility in search – that really propels the majority of link building within SEO. And as a primary goal you should absolutely be tracking your website’s search visibility. How? With rank trackers, which will empower you to track hundreds or even thousands of search results and see where your website ranks.

Site Plugins

On-site SEO needs to be addressed before you begin building links. Otherwise, there is a very real possibility that no matter how many links you build, your site won’t perform the way it should. The good news is that on-site SEO can be easy to address, particularly if you’re working out of WordPress or another common CMS. The following are plugins specifically designed to maximize ease and efficiency when it comes to common on-site SEO issues.

Browser Extensions

What’s more convenient or efficient than a tool that lives in your browser? The following list of tools are all browser extensions that will help with your link building efforts, all accessible without having to switch away from your browser.

Social Tools

Although social media has no direct influence on search rankings, social is still quite valuable in terms of SEO and link building – particularly for amplification and outreach. Here are some of the best social tools on the web to increase your link building efforts.

Email Tools

Outreach is a fundamental process in building links that matter. And because email is the preferred method of outreach 90% of the time, email tools can greatly improve your outreach abilities. The following are tools that offer a variety of options – knowing when your email was received and opened, scheduling follow up emails, and even seeing your contact’s social media profiles.

SEOs and link builders are well known for their love of sharing information, tactics, and ideas. Subsequently there are a plethora of SEO/link building blogs worth paying attention to. To help you find the best and most accurate blogs worth following, we’ve compiled a list (in no particular order) of some of the most prominent SEO and link building blogs.

Link builders often use surveys as a form of link bait because they often contain interesting data that various blogs and news outlets will analyze and report. The same is true within our own industry. The following is a list of surveys with interesting and revealing data of which you should be aware.

There are nearly an infinite number of ways to build links. You’re only limited by your creativity. Any possible way you dream up to make another website share your content, message, thoughts, beliefs, work, or ideas will typically result in a link.

The following are tactics that have proven effective time and time again, and have been largely explained by a variety of sources. Remember that you need to diversify your efforts and customize each campaign based upon your niche, industry, product, and goals. Each and everyone of these tactics can be successful, but it will vary site to site.

Broken Link Building

Broken link building is one of the most popular tactics for building links. This is because it is effective and relatively easy as it doesn’t require any content creation. Here are some great posts on the subject.

Guest Posting

Guest blogging offers a variety of online visibility benefits such as, tapping into new audiences, building authority, disseminating a message, and of course link opportunities. Although Google’s head of Webspam recently called for the end of guest blogging for SEO, high-quality guest blogging will never die. High quality guest blogging will continue to offer great online marketing opportunities, and that will continue to include links. Just be sure you’re creating and pitching top notch content to receptive audiences.

Link Reclamation

Link Reclamation is exactly what it sounds: reclaiming or fixing links pointing to your site. Specifically, this tactic involves finding broken, old, outdated, and generally suboptimal backlinks pointing to your site and making the appropriate fixes. These are typically an easy win at the beginning of the campaign as they can often be fixed internally.

Mention Monitoring

Building links from mentions is a very practical, easy, and natural way to accrue links. The concept is exactly as it sounds: you monitor the internet and whenever another website mentions you, your product, your website, your brand, or even your URL you reach out to thank them and ask for a link as well. It’s a great way to monitor the perception of your company as well as build a few great links.

Resource link building

Nearly every industry has a large dedicated resource page on one website or another, if not multiple resource pages. These pages are great for a few authority links – your website is featured in good company, you’re listed as a helpful resource to your target audience, and you get another link online. Due to the complications with keeping these list up to date, webmasters are often grateful-or at least receptive-to new resources as well.

Infographics

Infographics are one of the most sharable styles of content online. They have all the right elements: easy to digest, visually pleasing, interesting data. It’s only natural that online marketers would attempt to tap into this power in order to build valuable links.

Image Link Building

When is a mention not a mention? When it’s an image. The web is a free flow of information and ideas, and it’s extremely natural for another website to use a few of your company’s images – whether it’s your logo, corporate headshots, unique graphics, etc. With reverse image searching tools all that’s left is outreaching for the link.

Competitor Link Building

Competitive analysis is a cornerstone of SEO. Understanding and analyzing what your competitors are doing right–and wrong–will allow you to work more efficiently. This is absolutely true within link building. Before you launch any campaign, it’s important to understand what’s working for your competitors and how and where they’re building links that matter.

Link Bait

There is nothing better than when links build themselves. Although that might be a bit of stretch considering the time and effort that goes into creating and promoting link bait. The general concept is that you build a piece of content that is created specifically because websites are likely to link to it.

Interview Link Building

Participating in interviews is one of the most underrated link building tactics currently. Interviews offer the same benefits of guest blogging, including the link. And you don’t even have to write them – you just answer another person’s questions. Of course, the same quality guidelines for guest blogging should be in place for participating in interviews. Make sure you’re only interviewing with quality sites relevant to your business.

Local Link Building

Local links are another underrated tactic, especially for their effectiveness in local search. Often local businesses have spent years developing local contacts before investing into local online visibility. This offers a breadth of opportunity that can translate into campaign success.

Testimonial Link Building

Google founded their search engine on the concept that links are a vote of confidence online. Testimonials are quite literally a vote of confidence. If you’ve already provided another website or company with a testimonial, and they feature it online, they will typically link back. This makes it clear who’s providing the testimonial, and gives you a valuable link. If you’ve granted a testimonial, or have reason to, don’t forget about the link.

Community Link Building

As Rand Fishkin famously said “my link building tool is my publish button.” This is the concept of building links through your community. You’ve managed to establish an audience, so all that’s left is to encourage and promote shares and links.

Contests/Giveaways

Everyone loves something for free – but of course there’s no free lunch. What’s the compromise? Give something away for free, but encourage links in return. This is the concept behind contests and giveaways. Just be careful you don’t cross the line into paid links – it’s a slippery slope.

Offline Link Building

Links are a common form of online currency. Websites understand that by linking out they’re promoting another website to their visitors. Despite the fact that links take place online, there’s no reason you’re limited to pursuing links only through online means. In reality there are quite a few opportunities to build links offline, as well.

Reporting/Newsjacking

Few link building tactics offer the opportunity that reporting and newsjacking do. If you’re able to get major news outlets to pick up your story, you’re all but guaranteed a large dose of high authority links, along with traffic, visibility, and branding. Of course, it’s easier said than done. But there are methods to help improve your success rate.

EDU Link Building

Links from EDU domains are often often highly sought after. EDU links are prized because they’re typically very authoritative and trusted. However, EDU sites are usually very particular about where they link. Fortunately, there are some proven and effective strategies for EDU link building and these posts will explain them aptly.

Badge Link Building

Badging can be a very effective technique for building links on prominent blogs/sites. By rewarding best-in-class sites with badges honoring their quality, you can build links while also recognizing the leading sites in your niche. However, there is a caveat with badge link building. You need to be an actual authority within your niche or your badges will be meaningless. Here is a helpful article that covers badging.

Is your website a link building officer? If not, get a badge.

Niche/Local Directory Link Building

Long gone are the days of mass submitting links to giant and irrelevant link directories. This does not mean all directory link building is useless, however. The key to effective directory link building is to focus on niche specific and local directories. As always you want to build links real humans would click.

Partnership Link Building

Businesses naturally form partnerships over the course of development and growth. Partnerships are essentially an offline link between two businesses, and often result in an online link as well. Here some resources that could be helpful when checking for partnership link opportunities.

Sponsor Link Building

Sponsorships are a wonderful way to give back to your community. They can also strengthen branding and build valuable and lasting relationships. If you already have existing sponsorships, it may be worth looking into pursuing links as well. Here are some guides to help ensure you get the links you deserve.

Association Links

Being part of a professional association or organization can provide numerous benefits for a business such as credibility, networking opportunities, lead generation, etc. Along with all these benefits, any associations that have websites may also present link opportunities. Here are some guides on how to go about pursuing association links.

Sometimes a topic is so large or broad that a simple blog post will not do it justice. Or perhaps you are looking for in-depth analysis or coverage on a wide range of related subjects. In this instance, a comprehensive eBook can provide you with the information you need. Here are some of the most informative eBooks published regarding link building.

Industry events and conferences offer a great way to not only learn more about the industry, but also network and connect with influencers. Conferences are particularly significant within the SEO/link building industry as they offer a way to gain insights from the biggest influencers in the space and learn of major changes within search. Here are some of the most prominent conference/events within the industry.

SEOs and link builders tend to have a great sense of humor – we enjoy a good joke just like anyone. Because the industry changes so rapidly, it attracts a large proportion of creative people. Thankfully, a lot of the humorous individuals in the trade find some time to tell their jokes.

LINK BUILDING RESOURCE GUIDE

Table of Contents

ALGORITHM CHANGE MONITORS

TOOLS

Backlink Explorers

Outreach Tools

Link Prospecting Tools

Site Analytics

Rank Trackers

Site Plugins

Browser Extensions

Social Tools

Email Tools

INDUSTRY NEWS

INDUSTRY BLOGS

COMMUNITIES

INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE

INDUSTRY SURVEYS

LINK BUILDING TACTICS